If the heat doesn't kill us

the spiders might.

Anyone know if we need to be afraid? Other than the fact these guys are about the size of my palm and breeding, of course.

August is too. damn. hot.

Yesterday, we made another day trip up to the land. The going on twelve foot high weeds had to come down, we needed to put the new break-into-this-NOW lock on the shipping container, and we just really wanted to be out there. Getting bogged down at home, being so far away, getting frustrated that the house designs keep. constantly. changing. makes it hard to see the forest for the trees. We forget entirely what our forest looks like. That it actually exists and isn't some figmented dream of our hearts.

We loaded up the trailer and by nine a.m. was on our way North. There is a bush hog driver just around the corner from our land. We talked to him last time we were up. His price was a little higher than the last guy but he wouldn't charge a travel fee so it evened itself out. We had to meet him at noon. Nine a.m. was cutting it close but somehow, even with the myriad of potty breaks and multiple re-tyings of the tarplin, we made it up with a few minutes to spare.

I have been deluding myself. I will own it right here and now. On hot, sticky days I have been falsely consoling my heart that our land runs about ten degrees cooler than where we are now. That those ten degrees will make it easier to farm our small bit of the Sunshine State. That sheep, wool covered bunnies and pumpkins won't wilt to nothing in the swealtering madness. Oh, I was so terribly wrong. The truth of the matter is that August in Florida -anywhere in Florida- is just too. damn. hot.

It was miserable. We brought up two 5,000 BTU window units that we powered with the generator. In the four hours were were there I think their combined Max-temp-high-fan output cooled the shed about two degrees less than the atrocious conditions outside. The kids were red faced and saturated with their own sweat. We laid in motionless lumps. I was nauseous and had a headache by hour three. I think if we had stayed longer delusions and body tremors might have set in. We bought plenty to drink; water, tea, powerade, and lemonade. But we couldn't get it in at the rate it was perspiring out.

While the heat pushed us down on our knees, it also brought the reality of building a home with our own hands crashing down.

How, dear God, are we going to do this? With only a scant few months of amiable temperatures to work with, how are we ever going to build a home? Farm the land? Even pounding fence posts and planting trees now seems too difficult a chore. All this land, and more with only our hands to shape it?

But we're nothing if not creative and resourceful. Our ideas of using concrete block instead of frame have been modified. We're reconsidering using shipping containers to complete at least two sides of the house. A smaller foot print is in order. Trees have been added to the budget to shade the shed and our home.
The window units will have to be replaced with a heartier system. Yes, we're changing the floor plan yet again. Yes, we've been knocked down a few pegs back into the hot hands of reality. But we're not out of the fight yet. The bell hasn't rung, the counts aren't even close to being made.

After the one section was mowed the girls and I took a trip along the edge where the forest wilderness now meets the meadow. It didn't seem so hot outside. The wind gusted past cooling our sweat beaded skin. We took a slow pace, no need to rush, as we explored the animals and plants that inhabit our land with us. The girls were awed by spiders and birds. The sweet smell of dog fennel was sharp and soothing. The sky was shining a bright blue peppered with fluffy white clouds as we walked.

The heat didn't seem so bad then. Only another aspect to consider. Now we know. Now we modify our ideas, form a new plan of attack without forgetting how August sucker punched us.

And Change Again.

Across the street.

Our trips this weekend didn't happen because my car flex plate needed repairing, our AC broke Friday night (again) which both add up to we're just too broke to make the trip and get anything accomplished. Also, after looking into the solution of paint-on vapor barrier, that option isn't going to happen. One of the only places to find it is Amazon and it's close to $100 a gallon. Yikes. We've decided to go with either a plastic vapor barrier or just the insulation which we've read is sufficient enough on one of these buildings.

We're pricing out our insulation and drywall now. We need to build stairs to the loft and run the electric lines before we dry wall it all in. The electric is a good option considering we'll be running the shed and multiple power tools at the same time once building commences. The $450 price tag isn't too steep but will wait. Running the electric after drywall isn't a very smart idea hence getting that done before hand. We're trying to work smarter not harder.

Last time we were up the 100 or so acres across the street had been virtually cleared away. The photo at the top shows just the sparse barrier of trees that line the road side. We could see lots of construction equipment but no signs saying what's going on over there. Did the owner just sell off the timber? Are they clearning it for homes?

The sad part is the deer that we've seen skitter across the street from our property to this now cleared one, will not have a sanctuary so close to our home. Our woods isn't big enough to support a Cervadae family. Looking on the bright side of things, if the land was cleared for timber, it has the possibility to grow back. If it is cleared for homes, there's a possibility of new families moving to the area which for a farming business that will sell fresh eggs, meat and produce, having a community of potential customers near might be beneficial. I can't see a cookie cutter development getting set up that far out, though I know anything is possible.

We're still planning to go up soon but not making any plans right now as they seem to change and change again.

Plans change

We had planned to go out to the land this weekend, just for another day trip. But in all honesty, it's just so hard to do a three hour one way trip twice in the same day with five little kids. I think I'm still recovering from the last trip. Plus, the next phase in the shabin habitibility plan is to paint the downstairs walls and floor with a coat of vapor barrier.

Picture this; five kids + small enclosed space + wet paint. Yeah, not gonna happen.

So, we've decided to postpone the trip until next weekend. I'll be taking the kids to a far away friends house for a baby birthday party and Rob will be going to the land to paint and wait for the bush hog tractor driver. He's hoping to get started on the stairs to the loft and reinforcing the plywood floor of the loft with an additional sheet.

We've been working on some simple plans for the shabin to run electric through the walls before we insulate and drywall. We found some Romex and additional electrical supplies just hanging out in our current shed from a long ago project. We'll be utilizing these in the shabin now.

For now, we've decided to use a sawdust toilet. What's a sawdust toilet you ask? Well, very simply it's a 5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat attached -unbelievebly they make special ones just for this purpose- and a bucket of sawdust. I can get 5 gallon buckets with lids from Firehouse Subs* for $2 a piece. When you're done you either dump out the contents in a hole in the ground or dispose of the entire bucket. Fun stuff!

Once the vapor barrier is completed, the sawdust toilet installed and the stairs complete we can plan on our first overnight trip! We'll plan a time where we'll be up there during the week at which time we will submit our barn plans.

Things are happening, though very, very slowly.

*I wonder if we went to Firehouse if they'd be interested in just giving us buckets if we tell them what we're using them for. Maybe if we give them a plug on the site?

Two new Rabbits and Why

Flora II and Fauna joined us Monday. This brings our rabbitry up to four now. We'll start breeding in October/November when the weather is cooler and the girls are older. They were born on Mother's Day.

Rabbits are the ideal small home/apartment livestock. They need relatively little room. They can be three-fold animals providing manure for gardens (which tomatoes love), wool and meat. You can also breed them to sell the kits.

In our area, Angora's range in price from $30 to over $100 a piece depending on the breed, color and sex. A litter of five healthy babies can make a car payment. They also need very little. Food, free access to hay and a never ending supply of water. Draft and drip free housing with good ventilation and a way to capture their droppings and you're good to go. Initial set ups can range in price from very cheap to really fancy.

We chose galvanized steel cages made for rabbits that are 30x30x16" for the bucks and 30x36x16" for the does (which are housed together). Each has it's own water bottle, food bowl and hay manger. We give them glue-free toilet/paper towel rolls and pine cones to play with and we have a enclosed baby gate for them to get out of cage exercise.

The hutches were built with mostly scrap materials and the cages simply rest on the frames. The new hutch for the does has a place for stackable milk crates that holds all their goodies.

So far, I've harvested nearly three ounces of fur off the older two bucks. Fur runs about $6 an ounce on Etsy, give or take. I buy them Timothy hay buy the 96ounce bag that runs $10-12 and lasts about 1.5 months. I get Hartz pellets from the grocery store. A 10lb bag is $9.99 and lasts about 2 months. I'm hoping to get to a point where the rabbits at the very least pay for themselves. I already use the manure in the garden which I think has really benefited the plants though that is hard to tell. If I had a bit better way to do it I could collect the manure and sell that too.

The point of all this is to point out our effort on bringing in animals to the farm that aren't a burden. They need to pay for themselves in some way or help to reduce the cost of having to do other things, i.e. I don't have to buy manure anymore, which is something I did. Moving towards a dream where we live a self-sufficient life means taking the steps now to build towards that. It would do us no good to have animals that only drain limited resources. We all have to work together to make life easier and more productive. The rabbits have that down already.

Our Latest Visit

Yesterday, we packed up the van and the trailer and headed over to the land to drop off some materials we have into the shipping container. Initially, we were going to spend the night over, trying to get some work done on the shabin but it didn't work out.

The drive up got delayed a lot mainly because the things getting packed up were so builky and Rob was doing all the work himself while I was inside getting all the kids ready. Then, we had to drop Leeloo off at the dog-hotel. She needed a bath and we wern't going to be home until really late. She's not puppy trained enough to be home by herself and the van was just too ful and the ride too long to take a puppy along. Soon, she'll be going up with us. She needs to learn better manners first though.

When we finally pulled up to the land and were greated with a vibrant sea of green almost taller than the car.

July and August are the wettest months of the year here and the land responds accordingly. We drove through the soft fronds up to the doors of the shabin and container. Rob jumped out to unlock it and found someone had cut the locks we put on it. Both of them. I just don't understand people. Thankfully, at that point we didn't have anything in it at all. But it still saddens my heart that someone would do that. They had to have come once, saw the locks and then come back with the bolt cutters. It makes me leery to put anything up there that we couldn't afford to loose. Makes me nervous about staying overnight. I don't want to be afraid to be on my own land. I don't want to be scared to be out of the city and blanketed in the darkness of rurual life.

I tried to push it out of my mind and enjoy the little bit of time we had. My land soothes me. Makes me want to slow down and just be. I need that. The kids loved it even with the grass double their height.

They played in the shabin and stayed out of trouble. Granted if they had run through the fronds we'd have probably lost them for a bit, but I thnk even Max understood that out the rustic-but-still-civilized door there was wildness. With the locks cut we had to run to Lowes to pick up some more resistant ones. Even though there's not much where we are, their are still shops within about a half hour drive.

We came back with batteries for the LED lanterns and the locks and set about finishing up the last of what we wanted to do, which wasn't really much. The kids had a picnic on some blankets while they waited.

When we were getting ready to go, I spied a hawk perched on the top most branch of a tree in our bit of forest. He was watching, standing sentinel, while the wind gusted around him.

A few moments later two of his brothers glided by as if on patrol. It was so amazing to see these birds of prey living on our bit of Earth. To know that we are stewards of their home and they rely on us to protect them, even if they don't know it.

The sun was setting on our trip to the land. Even with the sky washed in the gray of storm clouds from the East, the West still glowed with the remnants of the day. To spend that time there, even when we couldn't do anything, was special.

As we packed up Amelia, our three year old, said "I want to live here forever." Me too, Emmy, me too.

Electric and Plans

I think we've decided to go ahead and set up electric service on the land, connecting it to the Shabin. The idea of going completely off-grid is really ideal but we have babies to care for and can't rely on not having enough power to run tools and other vital building implements. We still have the generator which is a great thing to have. Chances are, when we go up on the 4th of July weekend, there won't be power. Besides, just because we're connected to the grid, doesn't mean we have to use it.

The electric co-op that services our area requires fees of almost $400 to set up the meter and run a line. If they have to set up poles I'm not sure if they charge for that or not. I don't think they will as the power line runs right on the road we're on. The set-up cost is definately something that we'll feel out of pocket.

There is also a note on the set-up worksheet that says they won't go out until we've applied with the Building and Zoning Department, though they didn't mention that when I spoke with them and told them we didn't have anything on the books yet and had no clear time-frame of having it set up in the main house.

If that is the case, there is another at least $420* due to submit our plans and that's after we've had it signed off on my electricians, plumbers and architects and those fees incurred with that. And actually finalized the floor plan we want to go with, of course.

So, progress has been made in the field of information but so far, that's all.

*$424 is the estimate submission fees for 1900 heated sq. ft with no porch, attached garage or other.